The Learning Engine

4 August 2024

Newsletter 004: Conceptual Models and Learning

Hello from Bluefield, Virginia!

​In the previous newsletter, I discussed schema and working memory. Schema are small parts of knowledge and skills; working memory is a part of your brain that processes information.

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Here is Belcher’s Model for Learning (yes, I’m continuing to send this image in every email — returning to the same image with more information is how we create strong memories!)

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Ideas

One major theory of learning is known as Constructivism. This theory argues that learning happens as we build — or construct! — knowledge and skills, taking small parts of the knowledge and skills and attaching the small parts into bigger and bigger parts.

As a reminder, the small parts of knowledge and skills are known as schema; a schema can be defined as the “basic unit of knowledge or skill that relates to any aspect of the world.”

An individual schema is a tiny slice in a part of knowledge and skills. Even if you are a novice at a certain topic, most of what you know is many individual schema combined into larger schema. By the time you are an expert in a topic, you have an incredibly high number and densely-connected network of schema stored in your long-term memory.

Sets of schema that combine are given a new name; this name is conceptual model. A conceptual model can be defined as “a set of organized schema for a concept that can be used to explain parts of the concept or predict outcomes from the concept.”

Both parts of the definition for a conceptual model are important:

• The conceptual model explains the schema and the relationships between the schema.
• Using the schema and relationships between the schema, the conceptual model predicts outcomes in the imagined or real world.

(Many people use the terms mental model and conceptual model interchangeably. There are subtle differences between the terms that I will explain later; I use conceptual model in my work.)

Although there are many definitions for learning, my definition for learning flows from the ideas of schema and conceptual models:

“Learning is the process of creating, modifying, linking, and applying conceptual models.”

Each of creating, modifying, linking, and applying conceptual models are important, helping you construct the knowledge and skills for a topic into a coherent structure.

I created the Model for Learning as a visual representation of this definition for learning:

• The blue arrow and words represent creating and linking.
• The purple arrow and words represent modifying.
• The red arrow and words represent applying.

Conceptual models that you create are stored in long-term memory, with the working memory retrieving the conceptual models whenever necessary. One interesting point is that the conceptual models are changed somehow every time you retrieve them; sometimes the changes are small and sometimes the changes are large. We can exploit these changes as we apply the conceptual models, helping us get better more quickly.

There are many other implications from the ideas of Constructivism, conceptual models, my definition for learning, and the Model for Learning — these implications will be explored in future newsletters!

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Stories

Here are a few stories about learning from me — I would love to hear your stories!

Story 1: I became interested in the process of learning during my doctoral work, being heavily influenced by the ideas of David Hestenes. He was a theoretical physicist and physics education researcher in the 1980s and 1990s, developing a strong pedagogical approach to science teaching called Modeling Instruction. After developing the pedagogical approach, Dr. Hestenes worked on the theoretical approach to learning — leading to a Modeling Theory of Cognition. My dissertation used both the Modeling Theory of Cognition and Modeling Instruction, which I continued to apply in my science courses after finishing the dissertation. My work now is trying to extend the Modeling Theory of Cognition and integrate the theory with other ideas in the learning sciences; this newsletter is part of that work!

Story 2: One area where I have developed many deep and deeply connected conceptual models is in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. I’ve written and modified a bunch of courses in my 12-year high school teaching career, developing expertise in these three areas. I very much enjoy the process of writing and modifying courses, which is why I’ve written a professional development course on the Principles of Learning. The goal for this course is to help you understand the underlying principles of learning that way you can use them in your personal and professional life — leading to better outcomes for you and those you lead, coach, and teach!

Story 3: One area where I am in the lower-intermediate stage of expertise is playing golf. Although the game looks simple enough — the ball is just sitting there and no one is trying to tackle you (haha) — the game is extremely complicated. I’ve gotten a bit better in the last five years, but still have a long ways until I’m at the advanced-intermediate or expert level. I’m using the Model for Learning and my ideas about learning to increase my rate of learning, which has definitely helped!

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Questions

1. What is your definition for learning?
2. How does your definition for learning compare to my definition for learning?
3. How does the Model for Learning attach to my definition for learning?
4. How does my definition for learning and the Model for Learning matter for parenting, leading, coaching, and teaching?

Learning happens best when we share what we are thinking, so I would love to hear your answers! Also, you can use these questions as conversations starters with friends and family — hearing their answers would be great!

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Thanks for reading this newsletter — and all the best!

Nathan